StrongMail acquires PopularMedia to offer social networking services

Under the terms of the agreement, PopularMedia will come under the StrongMail brand and its social media tools will become part of the StrongMail suite of digital marketing offerings. PopularMedia's social media marketing platform will serve as the foundation for the "Social Programs" component of StrongMail's social media framework, announced earlier this month.

“Marketers are looking to integrate social media into the e-mail channel and for us this adds a new channel to StrongMail's suite of services,” said Ryan Deutsch, VP of strategic services and market development at StrongMail. “We really see marketers looking at social media as a new digital channel to get into.”

PopularMedia will move from its San Francisco offices into StrongMail's Red wood City, CA, offices. Most of the PopularMedia employees will stay on, but Deutsch said that redundancies will be addressed and there could be layoffs. There are no layoffs expected from the StrongMail team.

The acquisition also means that the PopularMedia tools will be completely integrated into the StrongMail offering. This integration is eased by the fact that the two companies have been working together since 2006 and have already aligned some of the technology.

With this move StrongMail hopes to monetize social media, a challenge that many marketers have been looking to solve. “An e-mail marketer has the opportunity to establish who the influencers are and to target social campaigns at that group of people through an e-mail and social media campaign,” said Deutsch.

Deutsch used the example of marketing a blender for Kitchen Aid. An e-mail for drinks made with a blender can be sent out to identified social influencers. This e-mail can include a link to post this to their profile and share with friends. When a friend clicks on this social media piece, they will land on an e-commerce page with the drink recipes and the opportunity to purchase the blender. “There is an opportunity to combine that social viral nature of sharing with e-commerce and promotions and discounts,” said Deutsch.